Comets earn runner-up finish at 32nd Kiwanis Invite

Wednesday

HILLSDALE — In Carson Laney and Hayden James, the Jonesville boys cross country team has two runners with big individual goals in 2019.

But as a team, the Comets have some ambitions as well, and Wednesday's 32nd annual Kiwanis Invite showed what Jonesville is capable of.

The Comets finished second as a team in the boys race, behind Division 3 powerhouse Hanover-Horton, led by Laney, who won the race and set a new PR in 16:19.16, and James, who took sixth in a PR time himself of 17:09.24.

But as impressive as those performances were, it was a third personal best performance by Bryce Baldwin, who finished 12th in 17:59.93, that pushed the Comets safely into second place.

In 2018, a three-runner core of Laney, James and graduated senior Roy Bowman helped Jonesville win the Big 8 title and reach the state final as a team, and now with Baldwin's performance, Jonesville could have a similar dynamic.

It's a huge step forward for a team that came up a point short to conference rival Concord at Pittsford last week.

"I think that race left our team hungrier, and losing to Concord by a point might have been the best thing that could have happened to us," Jonesville coach Josh Perrin said. "Our next practice was the most focused I've ever seen this group, and we took a big step forward today.

"Carson, Hayden and Bryce were all all-state in track and field in the spring, and to see them carry that over the summer break into cross country without a beat is just a testament to the work they've put in."

The next key for Jonesville is tightening up its pack.

Max Price (38th, 20:13.88) and Alan Knowles (39th, 20:14.37) had decent finishes for an early season race, but have the potential to cut off time as the season goes on, and Jonesville will need them to do so in order to compete for the Big 8 title and for a state final berth.

Other runners could step up for the Comets as well.

Another boys team with a strong early-season showing was Hillsdale Academy, which took fourth with 124 points in its first race of the season.

The Colts tied their best-ever finish in the Division 4 state meet last season, but graduated two of its top five runners.

Wednesday was a solid start for a team looking to reach those heights again, said Colts coach Mike Nikkila.

"We're really happy with our third through eighth runners, who've been working really hard and who came out and ran solid times today," Nikkila said. "We've got a lot of depth and great pack that can train together and push each other to get better, and that should help us improve a lot over the course of the season."

Pittsford finished seventh overall but benefited from a breakout performance from freshman Kade Spahr, who ran a personal best 18:49.51 to finish 19th, over three minutes faster than his 5K time in the season opener a week ago.

Along with Kody Smith (17th, 18:21.33) and older brother Ethan Spahr (26th, 19:24.15) Kade's strong performance gives the Wildcats a pack up front that it hasn't had in recent seasons.

"Kade's just a really athletic, tough kid and as good as he was today, still only scratching the surface of what he can do, so we're really excited," Pittsford coach Brian Smith said. "Our top three runners have a lot of potential and are capable of competing for medals at just about every invite we attend, and now it's about working with our other runners to build up a fourth and fifth to compliment that group."